Only 37 per cent of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president,
finds CBS poll, as anger continues over 'fumbled' Obamacare rollout

President Barack Obama's approval ratings have crashed to a record low, according to a new poll, as support haemorrhages in the midst of the flawed roll out of healthcare reform.

A survey by CBS News found that only 37 per cent of Americans approved of the job he was doing as president, while 57 per cent disapproved. Both numbers are the starkest since he took office in January 2009.

His cratering approval rating appears to be strongly linked to the chaotic first weeks of Obamacare, his signature healthcare law, and he has shed nine points in just the last month.

Mr Obama has repeatedly apologised for the "fumbled" roll out which has seen the law's main website plagued by computer glitches and millions of Americans forced off their health insurance plans despite his promise they would not be.

While the American public has always been wary of the healthcare law, 61 per cent say they now disapprove of it, a surge of 10 points in the last month.

Mr Obama's job approval ratings have slumped before but Americans have tended to continue to personally approve of him.

That reservoir of goodwill appears now to be draining as only 49 per cent said they considered him honest and trustworthy, while 48 per cent said he was not.

During the bitterly-fought 2012 presidential campaign Mr Obama ratings for trustworthiness were around 60 per cent, according to CBS News.

His cratering poll numbers have led some pundits to compare the moment to the loss of trust suffered by George W Bush after the federal government's hesitant response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A poll from November 2005, three months after the storm that devastated New Orleans, put Mr Bush's approval rating at 35 per cent, two points lower than Mr Obama's.

"You don't want to count anybody out this early into his term but this is pretty consistent with the loss of trust we saw with President Bush," said Jon McHenry, a Republican pollster, who said it was likely Mr Obama would remain with a below-50 per cent approval rating for the remainder of his second term. "Trust is a valuable commodity and once you've lost it, it's very hard to get back."

The CBS poll indicates that the Obamacare roll out is beginning to take a toll on Mr Obama's Democrat allies in Congress. Around 68 per cent disapprove of the job they are doing, up three points since last month.

"There is no doubt that our failure to roll out the ACA smoothly has put a burden on Democrats, whether they're running or not, because they stood up and supported this effort through thick and thin," Mr Obama said last week, urging voters not to punish Democrats for the White House's mistakes in next year's mid-term elections.

Republicans remain more unpopular with 73 per cent disapproving of their Congressional performance but their numbers have improved five points since last month.